Brick...
Another good one. It wasn't until about half way through this that I got the idea... not the idea of the plot, but the gimmick that makes this a unique film. Its a noir film like the Maltese Falcon, which if I have to classify the genre, means its a detective story with a damsel in distress, really wordy and lots of jargon that is kind of meaningless outside of the story. I knew that coming in, but due to the fact that there were so many, not to be offensive to the them, "no name" actors that I just thought the acting was bad at first. Not so, I really think that its more that the director is staying true to the genre. What makes this particular noir film unique is that all the characters are in highschool. The scene that made it click for me was the scene where Brendon the protagonist is in the vice principal's office, the VP is hounding Brendon and it becomes clear that Brendon is a kind of informer, he digs around and gets dirt on people then turns them over to the authorities, the VP and principal in this case, in exchange for favors from them. It sounds kinda dumb, but its a pretty neat concept I think.
The story was very interesting. The acting as I say seemed a bit forced and lame at times, but stayed true to its roots... which in an odd way legitimized it. I thought it was shot extremely well. Great framing and very simple shots for the most part. There weren't a lot of fast cuts the whole time. Some scenes consisted only of two shots. Im becoming a fan of seeing entire scenes from one perspective, as opposed to the typical back and fourth mid shots of peoples faces... action / reaction, your line / my line style that is so boring, or the just pick up a camera and wave that junk around then cut it together 100 short shots. I think it takes a lot of discipline and trust to let the camera be still and allow the actors to introduce the motion. Its kind of cheap, I think, to just do zooms and dolly moves on every shot to provide visual interest.
All in all this was a good watch. An interesting story, a cool gimmick, all executed well. Its on netflix, its worth adding to the ol' que.
The story was very interesting. The acting as I say seemed a bit forced and lame at times, but stayed true to its roots... which in an odd way legitimized it. I thought it was shot extremely well. Great framing and very simple shots for the most part. There weren't a lot of fast cuts the whole time. Some scenes consisted only of two shots. Im becoming a fan of seeing entire scenes from one perspective, as opposed to the typical back and fourth mid shots of peoples faces... action / reaction, your line / my line style that is so boring, or the just pick up a camera and wave that junk around then cut it together 100 short shots. I think it takes a lot of discipline and trust to let the camera be still and allow the actors to introduce the motion. Its kind of cheap, I think, to just do zooms and dolly moves on every shot to provide visual interest.
All in all this was a good watch. An interesting story, a cool gimmick, all executed well. Its on netflix, its worth adding to the ol' que.
